Top 10 Fintech Brainfood Rants of 2024

Hi Fintech Nerds 👋

Welcome to the great de-banking (or de-risking) debate. It reminds me of the classic meme where two things can be true simultaneously. The problem is everyone gets lost in one side of the debate. That’s a problem because you can’t fix systemic issues with outrage.

• There was a large-scale regulatory effort to investigate Fintech and Crypto, and pressure on banks to better manage risk in this sector (TRUE)

• There was a huge issue with fraud, scams, and AML in Fintech and Crypto, resulting in bankruptcies and consumers losing life savings (TRUE).

• As a consequence good businesses and good founders have had their accounts closed purely based on their industry (TRUE)

• Much of the pushback against Fintech and especially Crypto is politically motivated, especially by Elizabeth Warren’s “Anti Crypto Army” (TRUE). However, I’d point out here that we saw the same in the UK under a “right-wing” Tory government.

The truth gets lost in lots of slanging matches.

So rather than re-litigate Synapse/Evolve or the blow-ups we’ve seen in Crypto, and how there are real contraversions of laws and regulations, zoom out with me for a second. Before you feel forced to pick a side consider what other things might be true.

• The US regulatory system is complex, often adding a new agency to handle every new crisis or issue.

• US agencies are headed by political appointments that will focus on administration-aligned issues.

• Underpaid civil servants staff deal with the hardest problems in society and make lower salaries than they’d make in the private sector

• We should show respect to the staff, not intimidate them with the idea of job cuts.

• We should also take the generational opportunity to consolidate the bloated US regulatory system (CSBS, don’t @ me, we can simplify at the Federal level at minimum).

If it’s time to build, it’s also time to put down the pitchforks.

Left and right.

The truth is that we need to bring Fintech and Crypto inside the regulatory perimeter ASAP. Keeping them outside the banking system, denying charters to Fintech companies, and then pointing at the small banks that will support them and saying, "Look, THEY’RE SO BAD!" is silly.

We need thoughtful, data-driven regulation enforced by simplified agencies that have better tools than spreadsheets to do their jobs.

Whenever I say things like this out loud, I’m greeted with groans from US law and regulatory folks: “Oh silly Brit, there would be lawsuits, and it would be too hard to do.”

Yeah well.

I don’t call it a Rant for nothing. It doesn’t have to be easy to be the right answer.

Get on with it.

ST.

It's been a year.

So, I'm taking a couple of weeks over December to catch up on being a dad and exciting stuff at Sardine. Normal service will resume in January with a weekly Rant, Fintech companies, and Things to Know. If you're missing your regular dose of Brainfood, here are the top 10 posts from the year, ranked by your open rates.

Enjoyed this years content? Why not convince someone you know to subscribe too? 🙂 

📣 The Top 10 Rants this year

(based on your open rates and shares.)

1. The future of underwriting with Generative AI and Transformers

2. Wallet Wars Part 1 - The battle for your digital identity

3. Wallet Wars Part 2 - When Identity Meets AI Agents

4. What is a brokered deposit anyway?

5. The role of private credit in Fintech

6. f/acc (my personal favorite)

7. If Big banks win, embedded finance innovation dies

8. The next cross-border rail will be 10x more efficient

9. Visa's Flexible credential is a game changer

10. We need to talk about scams

I also did the ultimate Fraud vs Scam explainer on the Sardine blog.

I’d love your feedback for 2025

🎧 Podcasts and Audio

• Season 1 of the Fintech Brainfood podcast with Ramp, Brex, and Mercury CEOs. (I'm still recording series 2, and keen to speak to CEO's of Neobanks; have one spot left)

• The Tokenized Podcast, The latest in Stablecoins and Real World Assets with Cuy Sheffield from Visa and me. You might enjoy this episode with Zach, the CEO of Bridge pre-Stripe acquisition.

• Rex and Simon Talk Fintech goes weekly on Youtube.

• I do a monthly Fintech Takes with Alex Johnson, "Not Fintech Investment Advice," where we cover 4 Fintech companies.

I want to thank everyone who's read, shared and replied to any of the work in this newsletter. I still can't quite believe this is a major part of my job.

👀 What's next?

It feels like Fintech is back in a big way. And that gets me incredibly excited.

1. An end of year report: I'm working on The State of Fintech report that you'll get to flick through during the winter break. (Excited for this, collaborating with Jevgenis Kazanis, my favorite new Fintech creator of 2024)

2. More audio: Season 2 of Fintech Brainfood will drop, and I'm itching to do an AI x Finance audio show; watch this space.

3. More events: We'll be doing something with Sardine next year, and I have a crazy idea for something Fintech Nerd related (yes I'm foreshadowing)

Want to get in touch? Hit reply to the email, or subscribe, then reply, and I'll see what you have to say :)